Old hands and wild young guns

For six drivers, the ‘Young-Driver-Tests’ held from 10th to 12th December at Jerez, Spain, will represent the opportunity to test the Audi RS 5 DTM on a racetrack. One of the drivers who may test the 2018 generation of the DTM Audi is the 27-year old rallycross ace Andreas Bakkerud. The Norwegian contested the 2018 season for Team WKS, the squad of two-time DTM Champion Mattias Ekström.

Also involved will be three-time Le Mans winner and former Japanese SUPER GT Champion, Benoît Tréluyer. Within the framework of the Spielberg race meeting, the 42-year old already drove the Audi Race Taxi. The successful Belgian Audi customer sport driver Frédéric Vervisch (32) also has been invited. Just as the young Italian Mattia Drudi (20) who impressed in 2018 when racing an Audi R8 LMS for Audi Sport Italia.

In addition, the tests in the cockpit of the 500bhp Audi will be contested by two Formula 3 drivers: Austria’s Ferdinand Habsburg (21) and South African Jonathan Aberdein (20). The pairing already tested for Audi last year at the Lausitzring.

Furthermore, the first customer team in the era of ‘New DTM’, Team WRT around Team Principal Vincent Vosse, will participate in the tests to prepare for the new challenge. The W Racing Team that is based in Baudour, Belgium, gained international reputation by securing numerous race wins and championship titles with the Ingolstadter’s GT3 racer Audi R8 LMS, such as triumphs in the 24h races at the Nürburgring, Spa, Zolder and Dubai, the 12h races at Sepang and Bathurst as well as several Blancpain GT Series championship titles, courtesy of – inter alia – the 2018 Audi DTM drivers Robin Frijns, Nico Müller and René Rast.